Episode 095

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“The truth and the reality never have that much of an impact on politics.”

                        Jon Stewart, the Daily Show

 

            “Does this seem like a bad idea to anyone else?” Eliot asked.

            Sarah looked up from the head of the briefing room table, taken by surprise by the question.  She looked to her left at Alex who seemed just as taken back.  “What do you mean?” she asked.

            “We’re not an investigations team,” Eliot said, the rest of the table turned to him.  “We’re a response team.  We’re the guys that you send in once the investigations team has gone through everywhere and spotted any trouble or stuff.”

            “What we do is investigation,” said Irene, a hint of offense in her tone.

            “We investigate what happened in specific events,” Eliot explained.  “We don’t investigate what happened in things like this.  This is the realm of scientists and stuff.  Researchers.  It’s like sending a crime scene investigator to figure out a cure for a disease.  Yes, technically he knows pathology, but in a very different context.”

            “Eliot, we’ve been ordered by the Security Council,” Sarah said with finality.  “We’re going.”  Eliot held up his hands, surrendering graciously.  “Jin, you will be staying behind.  All other field operatives are going.”

            “The whole team?” Jason asked, taken back.

            “We’re going to have a lot of ground to cover,” Alex said for her, closing up his papers.

“We deploy in half an hour,” Sarah said, standing straight with finality.  “Dismissed.”

            The gathered group stood and began to file out.  Alex watched them go, staying at the head of the table with Emma until the room was empty.  As Isaiah shut the door, Alex turned to Sarah, leaning on the table.  “He’s right, you know?” he said.  “This is suspicious.”

            “We’re the closest ones to it, we’ve got the most active experience, we’ve got a pretty good record,” she listed off.  “Is it outside of our usual field of operation?  Yes.  Is it beyond our ability to handle?  Absolutely not.”

            Alex shook his head in grudging acquiescence and headed out.  Sarah watched him go, then headed to the door as well.  In the main room, the rest of the team was still dispersing.  She headed to Jin’s workstation and motioned away with her head.  He glanced around, confused, and followed.

            Sarah headed into the break room, Jin right behind her.  “You’re to provide us support,” Sarah explained as before Jin even stopped walking.

            “Yeah, I figured,” he said.

            “I want you to look into this,” Sarah said.  “Eliot’s right.  This is weird.  I want you to talk with Assif and get details on the meeting with the Security Council.”

            “That meeting’s classified,” Jin exclaimed.

            Sarah glared at him.  “Then pass notes in Pig Latin.  Whatever it takes, I want you to trace the interest of the representatives.”

            “You want me to what?” Jin asked.

“Yun Tai was extradited before the fingerprint ink was dry,” Sarah explained.  “A major US collector, in California no less, was robbed and it didn’t even make the local news.  The RAF disallows a UN transport with top-level clearance in pursuit of terrorists.”  She paused, staring Jin in the eyes.  “Do I need to keep going, or can you see the pattern?  Something’s going on here.  What, I don’t know.  And the Council may have nothing to do with it, but at this stage of the game, paranoia will serve us far better than trust.”

 
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